Performance tuning is an ongoing battle in SQL Server, but having a little knowledge up front when designing an application can greatly reduce the efforts. Do you know which performs better: stored procedures or triggers? There aren't many places where the two are interchangeable, but knowing the impacts of each might change the way you build an application. Read about this analysis by Vijaya Kumar.
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One thing that often amazes me is that many SQL Server developers do not actually measure the performance of their queries. Many of them thought that you needed external tools, more or less complicated, to run against your server, and they did not have the time or inclination to learn and try these. This article will describe a couple of much easier methods of measuring performance of queries.
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How many of you use Execution Plans to tune your queries? Do you understand the impact of different indexes? Mr. Vijayakumar looks at his experiments with different types of indexes and their effects on the execution plan use. A great article for those of you that want to learn more about how you can tune your server for better performance.
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Do you use the maintenance plans or hate them? Wish they would do more? Curious about how they work under the hood? Cmon, you gotta read this one! Trust us, it's not another "how-to" article! Well, maybe just a little bit!
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One of the biggest performance gains built into SQL Server is the stored procedure. In this article by Brian Kelley, he shows you how to fully utilize, debug and monitor the caching of such objects.
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Performance tuning is an ongoing battle in SQL Server, but having a little knowledge up front when designing an application can greatly reduce the efforts. Do you know which performs better: stored procedures or triggers? There aren't many places where the two are interchangeable, but knowing the impacts of each might change the way you build an application. Read about this analysis by Vijaya Kumar.
Read more...

SQL Server showplan is a great tool for analyzing queries and determining whether or not more performance tuning needs to be done. However working with showplan can be confusing and it takes some practice to learn the ins and outs of what is occurring. Joseph Sack looks at showplan and seven of the main things that he is aware of when looking at the results. If you've rarely or never used showplan, this is a great article to get started in learning how an experienced DBA views the output.
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How can you tell if your code if performing well? Do you know what you want to look for when starting to analyze code? Here's an article from Leo Peysakhovich that looks at some of the things that you can use at a high level to improve the performance of your code.
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How many of you use Execution Plans to tune your queries? Do you understand the impact of different indexes? Mr. Vijayakumar looks at his experiments with different types of indexes and their effects on the execution plan use. A great article for those of you that want to learn more about how you can tune your server for better performance.
Read more...

One thing that often amazes me is that many SQL Server developers do not actually measure the performance of their queries. Many of them thought that you needed external tools, more or less complicated, to run against your server, and they did not have the time or inclination to learn and try these. This article will describe a couple of much easier methods of measuring performance of queries.
Read more...

As Chris points out, in most applications these days you end up having to go with optimistic locking, which presents a few challenges. Chris works through the list of options. If you're building web/disconnected apps and need anything besides last update wins, this one is for you.
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New Author! Jeff had some questions about fill factors - but no answers! He did some work and came up with a set of recommendations for how and when to set your fill factors to something other than the default.
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New Author! The first of two articles this week on fill factors, this article looks at the impact fill factor can have on performance and shows you the key tools and counters you use to assess the impact of changes to fill factor.
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